


Gingerbread Houses or Teen Angst?

by the_good_ship_tardis



Category: Class (TV 2016)
Genre: Classholiday, F/M, Fluff, Gingerbread Houses, M/M, bbc class - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-20
Updated: 2017-05-20
Packaged: 2018-11-03 00:31:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,283
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10955967
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_good_ship_tardis/pseuds/the_good_ship_tardis
Summary: The Coal Hill gang decides to get together for a gingerbread building contest, in honor of the upcoming holidays. Of course, building the gingerbread houses doesn't turn out to be quite as simple as they expected.





	Gingerbread Houses or Teen Angst?

The kitchen was set up with three tables, each bare except for a box, containing six pieces of gingerbread that were etched with different designs and patterns. The counter was cluttered with enticing pieces of candy, overflowing from small bowls, and skinny tubes of icing in every color.  
“Ready?” April asked, excitement lighting up her eyes.  
Her brown hair, which normally hung in loose curls down her back, was tied into an immaculate bun. She wore a pristine apron, patterned with little reindeer for Christmas time.  
“Wait, I still don’t get it,” Charlie called. “What are the rules again?”  
“It is a gingerbread house building contest,” Matteusz explained. “You have to put together this house of cookie better than everyone else in under two hours.”  
Charlie looked at him, a blank look still evident on his face. Matteusz sighed a little, but he was smiling.  
“I’m going to be helping you,” he told Charlie.  
“Oh, okay,” Charlie said seriously.  
“I still don’t see why I have to participate,” Quill snapped.  
She wore a holiday apron like April’s, except she didn’t seem very happy about it.  
“Just because you-” she shot a glare at Charlie, “want to do some ridiculous activity with your friends, it doesn’t mean you need to drag me into it too.”  
April rolled her eyes at Charlie.  
“If you don’t do it,” she said patiently, “then Tanya won’t have a partner. Besides, what do you to lose?”  
“My dignity,” Quill snorted, but she didn’t protest further.  
“Is everyone ready now?” April asked again.  
This time, there were nods all around.  
“Okay, ready, set, go!” April yelled, and she pressed the start button on the timer.  
Instantly, the kitchen became crowded with activity as people rushed around, trying to grab supplies. April snagged a tube of icing and she turned to face Ram, who was staring at his nails, boredom written across his face.  
“Ram!” she said, causing him to look up at her. “You’ve got to help me! Go get the base for the house, I need to find more icing.”  
“April, it’s not that big of a deal,” Ram pointed out. “Do I really have to?”  
“Yes!” April shouted back. “Now go!”  
Alarmed by the sudden intensity in April’s voice, Ram got up to retrieve the base for the house. Over at Charlie and Matteusz’s table, Charlie was staring at the pieces of gingerbread in fascination as Matteusz opened an icing tube. At Tanya and Quill’s table, Tanya was carefully icing the first side of a piece of gingerbread, while Quill had already put together the first three walls, a look of competitive determination in her eyes.  
April ran back to the table, breathless, three more tubes of icing clutched in her hands. She carefully removed the gingerbread pieces from the box and began icing each side with absolute precision.  
“Do you want me to-” Ram started.  
“No,” April cut him off. “I can do it myself. Just don’t touch anything.”  
More bored than ever, Ram tilted his chair back and wondered why he agreed to do this. Sure, he loved April, but he didn’t think building a gingerbread house was exactly on the list for most romantic date ideas.  
By the first table, where Charlie and Matteusz were, Charlie was holding up the walls as Matteusz iced them. Suddenly, Charlie let go of his grip on the walls, and they all fell in a heap.  
“Charlie, are you okay?” Matteusz asked him, concerned.  
“I got some on my finger!” Charlie said, panic in his voice.  
He held up his hand to show Matteusz the small bit of white icing that had been smeared onto his finger.  
“Is it poisonous?” he questioned.  
Matteusz started laughing when he realized what had happened.  
“No, no,” he told Charlie. “It’s not poisonous. In fact, you can eat it. Try it, it’s very sweet.”  
Charlie gave a suspicious glance, but he carefully licked the icing off his finger. His eyes lit up as the flavor hit his tongue.  
“It is very good,” he admitted to Matteusz.  
Matteusz smiled at him and planted a gentle kiss on his forehead.  
“Told you,” he said.  
By the second table, where Tanya and Quill were, Quill was completing the structure for the house, wielding the icing like a dagger as she deftly filled in all cracks and empty spaces. Tanya, it seemed, had given up, and she had started to work on the variety of sweets that sat on the counter. Sugar coated her fingers as she nibbled on another gumdrop.  
There was a pause of several minutes as the teams all waited for their gingerbread houses to dry, so they could begin decorating. April had built her and Ram’s so structurally sound that it didn’t require anyone to hold it up, but she was gripping onto it anyways. Charlie and Matteusz’s house was a mess, dripping with icing everywhere, since Charlie kept trying to eat it when Matteusz squeezed more unto the gingerbread. Also, he kept forgetting he had icing on his fingers, then touching his hair or his clothes, and as a result, he at patches of icing stuck to him everywhere. Quill and Tanya’s house was neat, but a bit wobbly, and Quill was trying to reinforce it with more icing as Tanya ate her choice of candy.  
Finally, the houses were deemed strong enough to withstand the weight of the candies, and there was a rush towards the counter as everyone tried to grab whatever candy they could find. April returned to her table, carrying candies in only shades of green and red. Charlie and Matteusz had taken whatever candy they could find, and their table was covered in sweets that were as vibrant as jewels. Quill hadn’t even needed to move, as Tanya already had candy on the table.  
When they started decorating, it became evident that April had a perfect design theme, Charlie and Matteusz were putting candies on at random, and Quill was just using whatever candy Tanya wasn’t eating.  
“Ram, pass me some red M&M’s,” April called to him.  
Ram reached forward, choose some red M&M's from the pile, and handed it to April. He watched her as she carefully put into place in the line of perfectly straight M&M’s, alternating colors of green and red. As he noticed the strands of hair that had escaped from her bun and hung down the back of her neck, curling upwards, the streaks of red icing that covered her arms, and the slight smile that hovered at her lips, but was balanced by the intense determination in her eyes, suddenly, he wasn’t bored anymore. It was rare that he ever got to see April truly happy, even when she played violin, there was always a tone of sadness that clung to the haunting notes that she drew from the instrument. Right now, though, he knew that she was completely happy, all her energy and attention focused on this task. He loved seeing the way she set on making the house completely perfect.  
He snapped out of his thoughts when he heard her voice, sharp and impatient.  
“I asked you for the gumdrops!” she said, shaking her head.  
Ram laughed when he noticed the white icing was smeared on her right cheek. Instead of grabbing the gumdrops, he took a tube of icing, placed a little bit on his finger, and dabbed it on April’s nose.  
For a moment, she didn’t react, but then her face broke out into a huge smile.  
“You are not going to get away with that,” she told him, and she took another tube of icing.  
Ram looked frightened at that prospect, and a minute later, he realized he had been right to fear. April squeezed the entire tube of icing onto Ram’s head, and she watched as it dripped down onto Ram’s eyes.  
“There,” she noted, a satisfied smirk on her face. “Now pass me the gumdrops.”  
She turned her back on Ram, but that was her biggest mistake. Ram took the opportunity to pour his tube of icing down her back, and she gasped in shock, he smeared more icing on her face.  
“Ram!” she cried, dismayed.  
Ram grinned at the sight before him, April, her face almost covered in icing, her hair streaked with it. She was making a face at him, and before she could retaliate, he pulled her in and kissed her. The flavor of her lips was almost pushed aside by the overpowering sweetness of the icing, and he kissed her again and again, until she was the only thing he tasted. April gasped as she wound her icing covered hands through Ram’s hair.  
“I still haven’t forgiven you, you know,” she said, between kisses.  
“I know,” he replied, kissing her again.  
Over at the second table, Quill had been completely concerned on building the house until she heard laughter. She looked up to see Ram covering April in icing, and she sighed a little bit when she saw the pair start kissing. She turned to look at Charlie and Matteusz who, luckily, weren’t doing anything of the sort. Charlie was placing a candy on the house, when suddenly, he lost his balance and tumbled into it. The whole thing fell over, and Charlie stared at it with a look of horror.  
“What do I do?” he asked Matteusz. “Why did it fall? What did I do wrong?”  
He frantically began trying to hold up the walls and ice them back together, until he noticed the way that Matteusz was smiling at him. Quill found herself chuckling at little at the startled expression that Charlie wore, and, once she noticed, the little bits of icing that Charlie had managed to get everywhere.  
Matteusz brushed his hand against Charlie’s cheek, and gazed at him tenderly.  
“You didn’t do anything wrong except make me fall in love with you,” Matteusz said, bringing his lips to Charlie for a long kiss.  
When he finally pulled away, and he saw the worried expression in Charlie’s eyes, he explained.  
“It’s because it makes my heart hurt to look at you,” he said. “I love you more than anything in this world, and I am so afraid to lose you. When you are happy, like this, I can only think of how many times I have seen you sad. I can only think of how many times you have thrown yourself into danger, and known that you might not come back alive. Charlie, I need you.”  
Charlie looked at Matteusz for a long moment before answering.  
“You will not lose me,” Charlie muttered. “I love you.”  
They kissed again, and the broken gingerbread house was forgotten in the longing, hopeful way that Matteusz said Charlie’s name.  
Quill stared at the couples with a bit of distaste, but that was also coupled with loneliness, and a wish that she too had someone that she loved that much. She once had, but all those she had cared about were gone, vanished into the shadows, only kept alive by memories and faded recollections.  
She turned back to see Tanya, smiling up at her.  
“They need to get a room, don’t you think?” she commented, gesturing at the couples.  
Despite herself, Quill could feel the beginnings of a smile on her lips.  
“At least we can win now, since they’re all caught up in their...teenage drama” she pointed out. “Come on, we need to finish the house. And for the last time, stop eating all the candy! You humans cannot seem to be able to control yourselves.”  
Tanya just shrugged and reached into a bowl of small, round, hard candies. Quill and Tanya managed to finish putting together the house, a cute little creation of color and icing, although Tanya insisted on eating the last pieces of candy. Tanya was licking icing from her fingers when the timer rang, causing the couples to jump apart.  
“Time’s up!” Quill called triumphantly. “We win.”  
April looked down at her house, which was a half-finished pattern of red and green, and then to Charlie and Matteusz’s house, which was a broken heap of gingerbread with candies spilling out from the sides.  
“I guess so,” she said, as Ram pulled her closer.  
“You know what that means?” Tanya asked.  
“That the losers get thrown into the tear in space and time and left to die at the hands of an unknown alien beast?” Charlie suggested.  
“What? No!” Tanya said. “That means we can eat the houses now!”  
Everyone looked at each other, the sticky icing that covered their clothes, the sugar on their fingers, and the general disorganized air that characterized both of the couples.  
“I think I’ve had enough icing for one day,” Ram said, and as he wiped icing from April’s cheek.  
“I want more icing,” Charlie said to no one in particular. “Why can’t I have more icing?”  
“Because you’re covered in it,” Matteusz told him sternly, but Tanya caught the small smile that hid from Charlie.  
As she looked around, she saw the happiness lit up her friends’ faces, except for Quill. Quill looked almost miserable, despite having won the contest. Tanya caught the sadness in her eyes when she saw April laugh at sometime Ram said. For the first time, Tanya wondered who Quill had lost the day that the Shadowkin had invaded.  
“Do you want to eat the house with me?” Tanya offered.  
Quill looked surprised that Tanya had asked her, and hesitated for a moment.  
“I suppose, if what you are referring to as the house is that mess of sugar on our table,” Quill replied.  
“Great,” Tanya smiled, “but I call the gummies.”


End file.
